Alright, it’s time to spread some positivity after the last article. If buy-in is so important for collaboration, then how do we get real clear with our teammates about our collective commitment before we embark on a solution? Here are 3 questions we should ask so we can get clarity on the problem, the effort, and the rollout of a solution.

Silos are bad in organizations that need to collaborate to succeed. Kudos for trying to break down barriers between teams, but when the other side doesn’t buy in that a problem exists, any effort you put in to fix the silo problem is destined for failure. Here’s a personal story of effort, failure, and lessons learned.

Groupthink is terrible for decision making, but dissent that make a team go around in circles is probably worse. We’ve all been a part of long meetings where no one agrees but nobody feels they’ve accomplished anything when they leave the room. Break the cycle by disagreeing without being disagreeable. Read on to find out how to dissent for a cause and to be a a great dissenter.

Do you only speak to development teams when you want something done? That's a sign that you consider your colleagues as tools rather than partners in crime. If you keep treating development teams like an afterthought, you'll find less participation, less care, and even worse, they will be rooting for your failure.

Your development team deserves a seat at your solutioning table. Bring them in early, listen and act on their feedback, and help everyone understand the true objective of what you're trying to achieve for your client. Read more to find out why this is a great idea to foster trust between PS and Development teams.

Your very first one-on-one with your team shouldn't be a soul-sucking exercise. I experienced from one of my mentors an extremely memorable and impactful first meeting, and in the process learned a very valuable lesson: professional altruism. If you're in it to help others grow, then express that professional altruism from the start.

What happens when we start giving away our work for free? Clients get the wrong idea of the value we bring to our table, commitment takes a hit, and our internal teams start asking questions on how we're contributing to our organization. We look at 3 reasons why we shouldn't be giving away our work, and a tactic to assign value without assigning cost.

What are the reasons why some projects stay on track while others derail? We look at a couple of factors outside our influence (lack of options and the fear of missing out), and one strategy we can all use (alignment with our client's business roadmaps) to ensure our projects always keep moving forward.

Part 2 of the series on Pain. When our clients come to us with immediate pains, it presents an opportunity for us to mine deeper to find out their big anticipatory pains. Forming an agreement that bigger pains exist, correlating anticipatory pains to their immediate hurt, and building a solution that address the short-term first will help you build the trust needed for your clients to come to you with their biggest business problems.

PS teams exist to identify, diagnose and solve client pain. In part 1 of a 2 part series on client pain, we break down the 3 types of client pain and lay out why one specific pain called anticipatory pain should be the single biggest focus of any PS team.

Great meetings results in consensus built, decisions made, and directions agreed to. Bad meetings not only undermine consensus and decisions, but it also destroys team trust resulting in resentment, grudges, and apathy. Here are my 2 rules to great meetings that help teams leave nothing on the table so they can foster participation, understanding, and cooperation.

A PS team can be greater than the sum of its parts! Building and growing a cohesive PS team takes effort and hard work, but there are 3 really good reasons to do it: it promotes learning, allows for greater pattern recognition of problems, and encourages adherence to standards. Learn how to help build a cohesive PS team with 4 simple tactics!

Measuring the success of a professional services team can be nebulous. Resist the urge to take the easy route of tracking dollars or "time spent" alone! Measure the team based on how they are executing on the three fundamentals of a great professional services team: How well are they diagnosing pain? How objective are they in solving client pain? And finally, how strong are the long-term partnerships we are striving to develop and maintain?

With unique objectives, measurements, and a strong voice at the management table, structuring an independent professional services team strengthens an organization's ability to continuously focusing on doing what's right for every client. It's definitely more work than to have a PS team report to sales, marketing, product, or another organizational unit, but in the long run it's more rewarding and sustainable.

There's a difference between being a consultant and a trusted advisor. The big difference between the two is a genuine fearlessness that makes the trusted advisor treasured by clients everywhere. Be that trusted advisor: listen, ask, and respond fearlessly.

Being a great trusted advisor to your clients should be the goal of every professional services consultant. It all starts with listening with an empathetic ear, asking the pointed questions, and responding fearlessly.

Part one of four on making the case to separate the notions of deliverables and effort. It's an operational model where the team works together on all aspects of PS work, but each role is uniquely responsible for their own deliverable. Part 1 breaks down what the model looks like.

Professional services has the potential of generating a cycle of endless value within and outside the organization. Instead of approaching engagements as purely transactional, taking the time to assess pain, build great solutions, commit to a plan of action, deliver the action plan, and engage throughout the process will foster great partnerships that begs for the PS cycle to loop over and over again.

It's not enough to understand what we do, but the reasons why we do what we do. We exist to understand client pain, to be trusted advisors, and to build great partnerships with the clients we work with.

What does professional services do? It seems the answer to that question is never consistent than the answers you get from "what does development do?" or "what does sales do"? Perhaps it's because every organization defines PS differently. But just because every PS team is defined uniquely doesn't mean there isn't a common thread.